The Hidden Serpents
by Gonzo the Purple Platypus
Summary: Kino-Labolle is the head of a Clan named Tarnen Serpere, a clan that isn't doing that well. The clan's members are of all races and jobs, and the two newest recruits Frill and Finty are trying to adjust to this new lifestyle.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

"Hey there, beautiful, how about you and me get to know each other?"

Frill turned to face the speaker, he was a homely Bangaa, short and fat with few teeth left in his mouth. His breath was heavy and reeked like a Malboro, while his eyes absorbed Frill's figure.

Pinching her nose disgustfully, Frill shook her head, "Viera have sensitive noses, you know! You could at least _try_ some anti-halitosis herbs!"

The Bangaa growled, "Huh! Stupid rabbit!" He turned around and stormed off, shouting profanities at anyone who as much as glanced at him.

Wiping a bit of spittle off of her green skirt and after adjusting her ears in the water of a barrel, Frill admired herself in the liquid mirror. She was tall and slender, picturesque in a lot of ways. Her skin was tanned and her tall ears were grey and finely-haired.

"Kupo, more man trouble, Frill?" Said a black-haired Moogle as he approached her.

Frill brushed hair out of her eyes, "You know it, Finty! I'm just too attractive!"

Finty reached into his vest's chest pocket and pulled out a golden band with a single ruby embedded within it, "Here, I, uh, _found_ this somewhere, have it, kupo!"

Testing the ring out on her finger, Frill admired it, "You've been out, _finding_ things again, haven't you?"

Grinning widely, Finty had to look up at Frill, "Kupo!"

Frill stroked her own ears, "What do you want to do now?"

"Uh, I don't know, kupo! What is there ever to do here in this town?"

They began a goalless walk around the dusty town of Agimimathu. It was the wet season around there, which was obvious with all of the rain barrels lined up next to every house or shop. The reddish cobblestone was slick, which was causing a lot of accidents recently.

Finty spat into a puddle spitefully, "Kupo, did you hear that old lady Grenta broke her hip yesterday? Slipped on a wet cobblestone and fell onto the pot she had just bought from the store. Kupo! It was hilarious! When she fell, she lost her earrings. Kupo, I picked them up to give them back, but, it uh, must've slipped my mind," He pulled out two pearl earring and marveled at them, "I wonder how they could've fallen off?"

The two earrings caught Frill's attention, "Ooh, can I see those?"

Finty tried to hand them over, but as he did one of them slipped out of his hand and fell into a gap between two cobblestones.

Bending over to pick it up, Frill slipped and fell into a puddle, soaking her clothes. Before Finty could help her up, a young Hume came to her aid.

He was tall and fair, his hair was blond and he had shining blue eyes. He wore a large sword on his back and was decked in customary soldier's clothing. He held her hand as he helped her up, "Looks like you had a bit of a tumble, miss."

He noticed the ring on Frill's finger, and called out over his shoulder to a small group of people, "Hey! Boss, isn't this the Enchantress's Ring?"

A Nu Mou wearing a long robe approached them and took a long look at the ring on Frill's finger, "Hm…" He flipped out a large book entitled _Ancient Artifacts Worth a Whole Lot_ and compared a picture from the book to the ring on the finger, "I'd say it is! Good work Tordinoy!"

The Hume looked up at the Nu Mou, "My name is Tordinick!"

Looking up at the sky, deep in thought, the Nu Mou grumbled, "Oh yes, it's your brother the hunter who is Tordinoy!"

Frill backed away from them, "Who… Who are you?"

The Nu Mou smiled politely, "Oh deary me, how rude of us! My name is Kino-Labolle, but you can call me Kino. I am the head of a Clan named Tarnen Serpere. This is one of it's members, Tordinoy."

"My name is Tordinick!"

"He and his brother are members. They're identical twins."

Eying the ring on Frill's finger, Finty asked, "What does a Clan want with Frill's ring?"

Kino reopened his book and pointed to the picture of the ring, "The Enchantress's Ring is a powerful ring said to contain the souls of a thousand dragons. Of course that's all nonsense, because you only fit three at most in there, but but none-the-less, our client wants it back dearly, it was stolen from her several weeks ago by a notorious thief."

Backing up, Frill fiddled with the ring, "What? I just got it today!"

Pulling out a large coin purse, Kino shrugged, "We'll be sure to compensate fully. How much did you buy it for?"

Frill groaned and Finty stepped in, "Kupo, uh, I bought it for her!"

Kino closed the purse, "Oh, so that's the deal. I'm sorry miss, I did not know it was a gift, you may keep the ring."

A Bangaa fully clad in armor and robes, massive scarlet spear on his back, grumbled unhappily, "C'mon boss! We have to get that ring! We can't let another quest fail! We don't need more spots on our record than we already have!"

Silencing the Bangaa with his finger, Kino shook his head, "Silence Jintotsi! I will not deprive someone a gift, simply for money and fame!"

Frill whispered to Finty, "Maybe we should give them the ring, Finty."

Taken aghast, Finty wrinkled his nose, "Kupo! You know how much trouble I had to go to to, er, find that? Kupo! I don't care about any sob story they have, don't give them that ring! It's probably worth a lot!"

"I know, but it seems like the right thing to do."

"Since when were you so high and mighty? Just yesterday you made a pretty little Gria child cry because you said her dolly was ugly!"

"And I felt bad afterwards, right? Imagine how bad I'll feel if these poor people have to split up?"

"Just forget about them! Kupo!"

"I can't do that!" Frill approached Kino, taking off the ring in the process.

"Nooooooo!" Finty jumped onto Frill's back, trying to pull her away, "Don't doooooo it! Kuuuuuupoooooo!"

Throwing him off, Frill handed the ring to Kino, "Here, you can have it."

Kino inspected the ring, "But, the Moogle said this was a gift!"

"It was, but he stole it in the first place."

Standing up, soaking wet, Finty denied it, "Did not! I _found_ that! Found it, hear me, kupo? F-O-U-N-D found!"

Tordinick tapped Kino on the shoulder, "The client said that a Hume stole it from her, a very skilled thief! That Moogle must have extremely quick hands if he can steal it from him!"

"How do you use this?" Finty asked as he tried to heave around Tordinick's sword, "It's super heavy!"

Snatching the sword back with one hand, Tordinick growled, "Give that back!" Tordinick resumed his talk with Kino, holding onto his sword tightly, "We could use hands that fast in the future!"

Crossing his arms, Jintosti nodded, "Aye boss, the client said that if we can pull this off then she had another retrieval quest for us!"

Glancing at Finty, Kino voiced his opinion, "True, but that's all up to him, isn't it?"

The Moogle's ears twitched and he humphed, "I would only join you dumb old clan if Frill did, and that's never happening, kupo."

Frill shrugged, "I'll do it."

"You have to be kidding me, kupo."

Kino held up his hand, "Wait a second, miss, before you sign up I have to know if you'll be useful in battles."

Bending over to look at Kino in the eyes, Frill grinned, "Useful? I'll be fire out there!"

Voice echoing inside of his helmut, Jintosti grumbled, "That's my job, girlie."

"It was a metaphor. I mean that I _can_ use several elementalist's abilities, and I'm not half bad with a rapier!"

Finty grunted unhappily, "Then I can lend you guys my knife and my paws. Kupo."

Tordinick smiled and forcibly shook Finty's paw, "I look forward to working with you, Moogle!"

Kino shrugged, "Eh, it'll work. I guess we should introduce you guys to the rest of the gang then, if you'll be joining us. We're held up at a tavern at the west side of town."

Frill shoved Finty playfully, "Who knows, Finty, this may be fun!"

"Ugh, doubt it."

"You might meet a little Mooglette!"

"I'm fairly certain they're not called that."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The tavern was old and musty, stunk of alcohol and mold, and was dimly lit by several hanging lanterns. As soon as they entered the Tavern, Jintosti sat down at the bar and ordered a pint. Tordinick joined another young man sitting at a table and began joking around with him.

Sitting very much out of place at a table in the corner, was a lady Hume, clearly of nobility, and quite disgusted with the slovenly building. Jewelry hung from her neck and wrists and her skin was about the same colour as the pearls from one of her necklaces. Kino sat across from her at the table and she impatiently blurted out, "Well do you have it, Kino?"

Smiling patiently, Kino reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring, "Yes, Lady Emerabelle, I have it right here."

Snatching it from his fingers, Lady Emerabelle crammed it onto one of her already bejeweled fingers, "Finally!" After admiring it for a minute, she reached under the table and pulled out a medium-sized bag of gil, and dropped it on the table, "That should be enough, right?"

A female Hume that was sitting at the next table over stood up angrily, "Bull! That ring is worth twice that much, you miser!"

Kino growled angrily, "Silence Imma! We get paid what we get paid!"

Imma glared daggers at the noble before returning to her table. Lady Emerabelle fanned herself with a silk pocket fan, "Now, Kino, about the other thing I wanted you to do."

"Yes, Lady Emerabelle?"

"I want you to retrieve my husband, Lord Yuusef."

Mumbling under her breath, Imma retorted, "What, did he finally run away from you? Seeing a younger, nicer woman now?"

Lady Emerabelle replied haughtily, "No such thing, wench! He was taken by a group of blackmailers several days ago."

Kino drank some beer out of a wooden shot glass, "Why don't you just pay them, Lady Emerabelle?"

Appalled, Lady Emerabelle gasped, "Why, if I did that, my husband would never forgive me!"

Finty mumbled, "_That_ makes sense, kupo."

Lady Emerabelle's fan grew faster, and she spoke proudly, "Well _I_ did some investigating, and it turns out the culprits are hiding out somewhere in the Baptiste Hills."

Chuckling, Kino shrugged, "You couldn't be a little more specific? I mean, Baptiste Hills is a lot of ground to cover."

"No, I know nothing more than that."

Imma grunted, "Useless blue-blood."

Standing up indignantly, Lady Emerabelle pushed past Finty, "The reward shall be twice that of what you just got, so I trust you will accomplish this. I will be waiting for my husband in our mansion."

Kino watched her leave and when she was gone, he sighed and leaned on his arm, "She's such a pain, but she's the only way we'll get any pay recently. We've been going through what's been a bad time for Tarnen Serpere."

Frill nodded quietly and Kino stood up enthusiastically, "Well, let's not let her put too much of a damper on our day! I'll introduce you to the rest of the Clan!"

First, Kino pointed at Tordinick and the young man he was with, who looked identical to Tordinick, "Over there we have Tordinick the Soldier and Tordinoy the Hunter! You can call them Nick and Noy." Secondly he motioned to Imma, "Then there's Imma the Fighter!" He then pointed to Jintosti, "There's Jintosti the Dragoon, we all call him Jinto, so you can too," Kino then pointed to a beautiful, redheaded Gria, "There we have Tonya the Geomancer!" And then, Kino unenthusiastically motioned towards two Seeq, one was passed out on the floor, empty tankard by his side and the other was laughing drunkenly, "And lastly, there's, ugh, Timton the Berserker and his brother Tontim the Ranger."

Frill patted Finty on the shoulder sympathetically, "I'm sorry that there's no Mooglettes here, Finty."

Finty growled irately, "Kupo! They're just Moogles! They don't have special names!"

Kino shook his head, "No, that's not true, we do have one female Moogle, but she was dispatched on another quest along with a couple other guild members, you can be introduced to them later."

"See, Finty, there's still hope for you!"

"Go away! Kupo!"

Kino sighed, "Anyways, we have a mission to do. I'll be taking Noy, Jinto, Tontim, Tonya and Finty."

Surprised, Frill interjected, "But, what about me?"

Cooly, Kino replied, "What about you? Your skills are not needed for this mission. Just get to know these guys and don't worry, you'll get your time to shine."

Imma patted the empty seat next to her, "Yes yes, come! Sit down and talk with me!"

Nick switched from his table to theirs, "Hey, can I join in?"

Imma pushed him over roughly, "If you can stand it, Nicky-boy!"

Frill sat down, but as she did, she mouthed the words, "Help me," at Finty. Finty only shrugged and walked away with the group, after they had pulled Tontim away from his booze.

After they had left, Imma leaned forward and leered at Frill, "So, your name is Frill, right?"

"Uh, yes?"

"What size of cup do you wear?"

"Huh?!"

Nick picked himself up off of the ground, "No, no, no, Imma, you ask her that after she's a little drunk, not right off the bat," Nick eyed Frill and passed her a shot glass, "But now I'm curious, what size _do_ you wear?"

Frill picked up the glass and stared into it, "What have I gotten myself into?"

Kino had chartered a wagon ride to the first town at the base of the Baptiste Hills, Imgana, to gather some information on the bandits. As they rode in the cart, Tontim slept soundly, Noy and Finty sat next to each other next to Tontim, making small talk, while Kino sat quietly on the other side with Jino and Kino, who were talking about what was happening once they got to Imgana.

Finty asked Noy, "So does the Clan use a Judge?"

Noy glanced out the back of the wagon, watching Agimimathu disappear, "Nope, we don't, Kino thinks that would be cheating."

Finty gritted his teeth, "I see, kupo. So what is Kino? I know he's a Nu Mou, but what is his class or job?"

"Kino has been everything, really. He has no set job. He has amassed a large amount of spells and abilities. That's why he's the head. Because he's just that powerful."

"Cool, kupo."

They rode along in silence for the next couple hours, until Imgana came into view. Once they reached Imgana, Kino and Jinto left the cart and went into a tavern. As they headed in, Kino called back, "You guys stay in the cart, we shouldn't be long."

They again waited in silence, nothing but the pitter patter of the slight drizzle making any noise. Finty whistled a tune for a while and Tonya fell asleep, barely making any noise.

Tontim woke up and snorted, "Ugh, are we there yet?"

Shaking his head, Noy responded, "No Tontim, we aren't."

Drowsily, Tontim looked around. Tontim was pudgy, like most Seeq, and his skin was a mottled blueish grey with black spots scattered about.

After looking around for a while, he noticed Finty. His eyes lit up and he snorted, "Heeeeeey! New guy! How's it going, new guy?"

Finty shrugged, "Fine…?"

Alternating between laughing and snorting, Tontim whacked Finty on the back heartily, "Oh that's good, new guy! Saaaaaay! You're a Moogle!"

"I knew that."

"Well o'course ye did! Ha! You know we got two Moogles in the guild. Ha!"

"I heard."

"Ha! O'course ye did! Ho ho! We got Anabelli and Onobock, brother and sister, I think, HA!"

"That's nice."

"She's really white, though, it hurts my eyes looking at her. Ha! But you, it doesn't hurt looking at you, know why?"

"Why?"

"CAUSE YOU'RE BLACK. Ha ha ha! You're darker than the night, new guy! I bet if you took off your clothes at midnight, we'd loose you!"

Tonya stirred in her sleep, "Tontim, make sure you're not hurting his feelings."

Gasping in shock, Tontim clutched Finty's shoulder seriously, "I ain't hurting ye, am I?"

Smiling awkwardly, Finty shook his head, "No, no, it's fine."

Returning to his former self, Tontim snorted, "O'course not! Ho! This guy can take a hit! I like you, new guy! Ha!"

Kino and Jinto returned to the cart, they climbed in and Kino sighed, "Well, we have narrowed it down to a specific area, but it seems like the blackmailer, Yugo the Beastmaster, has also captured seven other people."

Jinto nodded, "Aye, it seems like he's just east of here, over the next couple rises."

Kino turned to the cart driver, "You heard us, let's get moving."

The crack of the whip and the plodding of the animals stated that they were getting closer to a battle.


End file.
